Thursday, November 14, 2013

DoD/TSA Partner to Provide Military TSA Pre✓™ at 100 Airports

Yesterday, TSA and the DoD
announced a
partnership to expand TSA Pre✓™
expedited screening benefits to more than 2.6 million U.S. Armed Forces service
members in the Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marine Corps, and Navy, as well as
the Reserves and National Guard.

Currently, members of the U.S.
Armed Forces can use TSA Pre✓™ lanes at 10 domestic
airports by presenting their Common Access Card (CAC). Starting December 20th,
these individuals will be able to enjoy the benefits of the program at the 100
participating airports across the country, allowing them to keep their footwear
on as well as light outerwear, laptop in its case and their 3-1-1 compliant
liquids/gels bag in a carry on in select screening lanes.

Under this partnership, all
active duty, U.S. Coast Guard, Reserve and National Guard service members are
recommended to:

Check the back of your CAC for
your DoD ID number.

Enter the DoD ID number in the
Known Traveler ID field when booking your flight.

Check your boarding pass. It
should have a TSA Pre✓™ logo if you’re traveling after
December 20. If you try to print your boarding pass prior to December 20, you
may not see the TSA Pre✓™ indicator.

When arriving at the airport,
service members will then be permitted access to TSA Pre✓™
lanes for official or leisure travel on participating airlines. Service members
do not need to be in uniform to benefit from TSA Pre✓™.
If you are traveling with children 12 and under they may accompany service
members through the TSA Pre✓™ lanes. However, spouses will
need to be enrolled in a trusted traveler program to participate. TSA will
always incorporate random and unpredictable security measures throughout the
airport. No individual will be guaranteed expedited screening.

TSA has long recognized our men
and women in uniform as nearly a quarter of TSA’s workforce is a veteran or
currently serves as an active duty service member in the U.S. Armed
Forces.

17 comments:

Anonymous
said...

what about retired military?? surely those who've devoted at least 20 years to our Nation should receive the same courtesy?? especially when most of us hold current clearances and still work in national security jobs??!!

Let me get this straight. This very blog publishes "finds" of weapons and parts of weapons harvested from military personnel often. So now the 18 year old that stole a dangerous device during basic training has a free chance to ferry it home? Anyone see anything wrong with this?

I served with many good people but every now and again there were some that were problems. Will military personnel be coerced into becoming 'mules' for contraband?

Despite repeated requests, the TSA has never provided any evidence that the background check done as part of PreCheck can actually determine if an individual is a higher or lower risk to airline security.

The entire program is a scam so that TSA can continue to grow its empire without inconveniencing those with money.

The best non-snarky question I can ask about this is: Has the TSA _finally_ trained all their document checkers to be able to tell the difference between a CAC card and a credit card? Last I knew, the document checkers working at SEA also had no idea what a TWIC card was. Since a TWIC is ID issued by the TSA, you might want to look into this.

Pretty soon, there will be so many groups exempted from full screening, that the full screening process will be even more of a charade than it is now.

Interesting to note that, say, 4 years ago even babes in arms had to have their oh-so-dangerous shoes removed, but now anyone up to the age of 12 can keep theirs on. And so can those former threats, folks over 75.

Then along came PreCheck and even more people became less dangerous.

Why can't the TSA just come out and admit that the screening process is totally flawed and begin to screen everyone on a PreCheck basis?

That's great! We trust them to defend our country with their lives, it's long overdue that we trust them to get on a plane with minimal screening. Now, how soon can the same courtesy be extended to their accompanying spouses and children? These families get little enough time together on leave - let's make them spend as little time waiting in line as possible. I hope retired military are up for the same treatment soon, too!

Why don't you just make PreCheck screening the default level of screening for all travelers? It would be simpler and cheaper for everybody, and you would lose nothing in screening effectiveness. I mean, you know that soldiers include people with integrity and people without integrity, right? They are just like any other class of traveler that you've granted categorical screening exemptions to (e.g., high-level frequent flyers). There is no evidence that a soldier or a high-level frequent flyer is any more or less of a risk than a randomly selected traveler.

Also, can you comment on the GAO's report about the ineffectiveness of TSA's billion dollar BDO program? The GAO report is at available at http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-14-159. Will TSA wait for Congress to defund this expensive, low-value program, or will TSA shut it down preemptively?

But I question the implicit assumption that, because we trust them to defend our nation, that they are less likely to be a threat.

After all, soldiers are trained in weaponry and in how to attack a fortified position. Thus they are more likely than non-military to have the wherewithal to pose a credible threat.

If you look at the TSA's weekly posts about prohibited items detected at the checkpoints, you'll see many examples of dummy grenades and other inert explosive devices used for training the military. Most of these probably are or were property of the armed forces. So who's bringing these items to the airports?

Finally, if you look at domestic terrorist attacks in the last few decades, you find many (most?) of the perpetrators were, at one time, U.S. military personnel.

Oklahoma City Bombing Timothy McVeigh was a decorated Gulf War veteran. Terry Nichols enlisted in the army at age 33.

Olympic Park Bombing Eric Robert Rudolf served in the army.

Wisconsin Sikh temple mass shooting Wade Michael Page served in the army for six years.

Fort Hood mass shooting Nidal Malik Hasan was a major in the army at the time of his attack.

Don't get me wrong. I know that the overwhelming majority of people serving in the military are reputable, law-abiding citizens who deserve our respect (as are the overwhelming majority of civilians). What I don't see is any evidence that, as a group, they pose less of a risk than anyone else.

I think it is an insult that retired regular military service members (20 years or more) are denied the ability to use this program. More and more retired military are treated like second class citizens.

They do it for military especially in uniform because it's a pain to take off your top, boots, belt, any retainer straps etc. Whoever said military ferrying weapons... They take spent shells that HAVE BEEN cleared safe for travel and lastly most of those direct flights are military aircraft

I do not understand the non use of retiree ID cards. I was in for 20 years and work as a sub contractor for 20+ years. All of my info is still on file,as an example,several months ago, I was receiving a temp post pass, i was waiting for the picture and fingerprinting. I was told I could update my pic on file and that I did not need fingwrprints, they were still on file...this was one reason I was given as to why retiree ID was not usable for this program.... confused? ??????

So basically you are saying it ok for Joe blow to pay 85 dollars to use Precheck at the airport. But someone who has served their country. Who has seen their friends die for this country. Who will jump on Joe blow when he tries anything stupid. Can't have the same precheck......That's OK I'll still protect you from Joe blow.